Fridae

A second joint effort from playwright and screenwriter Sam Shepard and director Wim Wenders decades after their first — Paris, Texas in 1984 — Don't Come Knocking is truly a feast for the eyes. Working with cinematographer Franz Lustig, Wenders manages to create a breathtakingly beautiful rendition of the American West, although it does not have much of a plot to go along with the visuals.

Howard Spence (Sam Shepard) is a burnt-out star (in the mould of Clint Eastwood) who flees from the Utah set of his latest movie, in an attempt to reconnect with his past. His first stop is to visit his mother, whom he has not visited in 30 years, and yet she immediately manages to shock him with a piece of news, one that sees Howard trying to locate an old lover Doreen (Jessica Lange) who is now running a small-town pub in Montana.

That's not all — Howard also meets Sky (Sarah Polley), a quirky young woman who is carrying her mother's recently-cremated ashes around in an urn, and looking for her father whom she had never met. Throughout this road trip, Howard is also trailed by Sutter (Tim Roth), a poker-faced insurance investigator who is intent on getting Howard back to the movie set so as not to incur more losses.

It seems like a story ripe for development, but much of the storyline is revealed in the first half hour of the movie, and the film comes to a shuddering narrative halt for the remainder of the film. The characters do not see much of an advancement after that, and some remain frustratingly one-dimensional despite having an interesting premise. Don't Come Knocking also becomes increasingly dialogue-heavy as it progresses, and is not a movie that one can choose to leave the brain at the door.

That said, if you are a person that's into lush visuals, Don't Come Knocking easily ranks as one of the most aesthetically pleasing movies released locally this year and thus a must-watch. The cast is also uniformly good, and memorable moments include a blistering speech by Jessica Lange as well as any scene that features the rather ethereal Sarah Polley. It may not be the most cerebral or engaging of movies, but Don't Come Knocking has its merits, and is a film that truly deserves to be seen on the big screen.